When we first decided to go to Moldova all the information we found was about the poverty of the country, the terrible condition of the prisons and the number of orphanages. Based on this information we decided to contact various charities that worked in orphanages and prisons in the hope of serving them in any way that would be helpful. For months we contacted every charity we could find to ask about volunteering in prisons or orphanages and heard nothing back. When praying a week before setting out God told us that it was no coincidence that we’d not heard anything, he wanted us to totally rely on him. So we prayed that we would be guided by the Holy Spirit and set out to Moldova with no agenda and nothing set except the place we were staying and the transport.

We had made one contact in Moldova she was an independent tour guide who was recommended by Lonely Planet. We contacted her to get some advice on travelling in Moldova and it turned out she was married to a Mancunian and was living in Manchester. We were able to meet her and spend time with her in Manchester before we left and arranged to meet up with her in Moldova.

The journey to Moldova was an adventure; we drove to London, slept in the car in the airport car park, flew to Romania and then got an overnight sleeper train to Moldova. The journey was long and all sleep was interrupted by various security checks but it was a real adventure and was enjoyable despite being tiring.

While walking around Romania and Moldova we prayed that God would show us life as a lot of what we saw was religion and tradition. On our first day we decided to walk round the area we were staying to work out where everything was and get a feel for the area. We’d walked past a few church buildings and had tried to go in and find information out about them and were swiftly ushered out followed by barking dogs. After walking for a while we stopped and wondered whether to go on or turn back, we decided to carry on walking and 4 buildings up we saw a picture of Jesus and a sign which said “Elim Pentecostal”. With excitement we walked up to the building and knocked on the door. The door was opened by a smiley man named Serghei and praise God he spoke English!

We chatted to him about mission 193 and about his church and talked lots about their understanding and experience of the Holy Spirit. Serghei seemed very excited to meet us and hear about our mission. He invited us to the church meeting the following evening.

That evening we went back to the apartment very excited and spent the evening praying for Serghei and the church. The following evening after being tourists for the day we returned to the church building for their evening meeting. The meeting was brilliant, we’d found life!! The church were noisy and responsive, there was no silence between songs as the congregation continued to praise God. Serghei had found us a translator which meant we were blessed by hearing the word. God was speaking to the church about having a thirst for the Holy Spirit and the need to experience the Holy Spirit. We talked to Serghei about our plans to pray and prophesy over Moldova and asked if he thought anyone would be interested in joining us. We talked to a few people but no plans were set so we said we’d come to the building the next day to finalise some plans.

The following day we went back to the building, we asked to speak to Serghei but they were unsure where he was. We sat in the foyer hoping he would come soon as no-one else spoke English. As we were waiting Igor came down the stairs and introduced himself to us. He is a student in South Korea and he spoke very good English. We chatted to Igor about our Mission 193 and told him that we wanted to pray and prophesy for his country and asked if he’d like to join us. Igor asked us to come to a youth meeting at his church which was associated with the Elim church and located in another part of the city. He asked us to speak to the youth about Mission 193 and then invite the youth to pray and prophesy with us. We were very excited by this invite but we were meant to travel back to Romania on the night that the youth meeting was taking place. We had to rearrange our travel and book another night of accommodation in order to go to the meeting, so the one thing that had been set before we left was changing!

We went into town with Serghei to rearrange our travel, we were so blessed to have a translator and someone who knew where we were going. We had decided that Serghei was the righteous man who we wanted to give a bible to and had carried the bible round all day waiting for the right moment. The bibles we’d been given were Russian and although people generally speak Russian the official language of the country is Moldovan. While talking that afternoon Serghei was telling us that he was the only person in the church who’s first language was Russian, how perfect that we’d already decided to give him a Russian bible!

At the youth meeting we were introduced to Paul, their Youth Pastor.

Paul was full of life in the Holy Spirit and was very keen for us to pray with the youth. We played games in the park with the youth and then came together to worship and pray together. After reading the prophetic scriptures we held hands in a group and all prayed aloud together. There were over 40 of us praying aloud in English, Moldovan, Russian and in tongues, the sound was amazing and the time was powerful.

The time we had in Moldova was amazing and we all said it would be hard to communicate all that had happened. God answered our needs again and again. We were told before we left that no-one spoke English yet every time we needed someone who spoke English there was someone there. We had opportunity to speak to many people about Mission 193 as so many people recognised us as not local and wanted to know why we were there. We were protected and experienced none of the dangers we were warned about before leaving.

God told us before we left that we would return with a good report and we can’t say enough to describe how good our experience in Moldova was. The people we met were so kind, friendly, hospitable and generous and the time we had there was amazing! Dedicating our time fully to God and living guided by the Holy Spirit was so exciting and everything worked out so perfectly.

Chinyanta Bweupe tells her story

I want to thank God for being my “Jehovah Rophe” (the Lord who heals – Exodus 15:26). I had been experiencing pain on the right side of my back and this pain was becoming worse leading to a whole week were I had been experiencing pain and found difficult to lift my right hand.

But God stepped in, when I attended the last Sunday meeting I was prayed for. I can testify that from that day I have been able to lift my hand without experiencing any pain. Thank you Jesus!

Sumbo Campbell reviews the book

I have just finished reading this book and I was so blessed, challenged and inspired that I started reading it all over again. This book birthed such a thirst inside of me that I just can’t seem to get enough of God at the moment. I am challenged to constantly seek His face, His presence and the manifestation of His Spirit. The more I encounter His presence, the more I am awed by how magnificent God is and I am at a loss for words. Being in His presence thus causes me to not be quick to pour my heart out but to be quiet and listen to his heart.

This book, being only 93 pages long does not afford the reader the time to get bored with it. The compelling message keeps the reader captivated and you just can’t wait to get to the end of the book in order to start practising what Tozer has so eloquently portrayed in the pursuit of the Almighty.

This book is available from Amazon.co.uk for £4.99 or can be ordered from the church bookstall after the Sunday meetings.

Emma Champion reports

We had a great time at the Willy Wonka party on Saturday 7^th June. There was a great response with 117 children coming, 48 of which were non-church children.

The top floor was transformed into a chocolate wonderland where children could choose from a pamper zone, big screen computer games and a competitions zone. Deji made it to the top prize of a super size chocolate bar in ‘Who Wants to be a Chocolataire’. The children finished up with an Augustus Gloop party tea including chocolate fountain before going home with their party bag, balloon and the chocolate bar that they had made.

The kids had loads of fun and we’re thrilled they enjoyed themselves so much. It was a fantastic opportunity to bless our children and to connect with families in our local communities. A MASSIVE thank you to everyone who was involved and worked so hard before and on the day.

Tola tells of how she has been blessed

I’d love to testify about God’s goodness in my Life. I am currently an international student doing an MSc program at the University of Manchester and have been praying and looking for a graduate role in a consultancy firm for some time.

Though I knew I needed a job to stay in the U.K, I was not applying for places as vigorously as I should have during the peak application period between September and January. This meant I did not have a lot of options to choose from when I got round to applying.

Last Sunday we broke up into little groups, whilst we were praying for each other, I raised the job issue and was prayed for. This more or less settled things for me as I believed God had it all in control.

I ended up sending a couple of applications out but received only one positive response asking to move to the next level in the recruitment process which involved both a numeric and verbal reasoning test. I was successful at this stage and got invited to the first round of interviews. Through God’s grace and favour I was also successful at this stage and got invited to the final assessment day.

While I was preparing for the final interview, one of the people in my little group that Sunday gave a testimony about getting a marvellous job. As a result, I was encouraged and imagined myself giving my testimony in a couple of weeks time!
The amazing thing is that I not only got offered a marvellous job, I also got offered the only graduate role if have ever been interviewed for.

God is good, and his word never fails… His plans for us will always bring hope.
I believe Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

More than 120 officers will be focused on tackling gun crime across Greater Manchester after a £6.5m investment.

This news has come following the announcement from Greater Manchester Police that there has been no gang shootings in the last three months.

As a local church we have been praying into this situation at several of our prayer meetings. We believe this is an answer to prayer. We believe that as we pray so we can change our city. This news encourages us to keep on praying for Manchester.

The new investment means the Xcalibre team set up in 2004 to fight gun related crime will get additional help from murder detectives, the armed crime unit and other departments.
All 12 police divisions across Greater Manchester will also have a dedicated team of officers geared to deal with gang-related crime.

The shake-up is intended to build on the recent success of Operation Cougar, which has helped cut the number of gang-related shootings.

In 2005, 75% of all shootings in Greater Manchester were believed to be gang-related. By 2007, this had dropped to 57%.
But according to Xcalibre intelligence, none of the shootings recorded since April 2008 are gang-related.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said Operation Cougar had had a “massive impact” on gang-related shootings.
“We constantly re-evaluate the way in which we handle gun crime and adapt our targets accordingly,” Mr Seabridge added.
“When we set up Xcalibre in 2004, the overall aim was for gun-free streets, and that still remains our aim today.
“To help us achieve this, a large portion of this extra cash will go towards building on the successes we’ve had in cutting the supply of firearms, removing guns from our streets and bringing offenders to justice.”

Let’s continue to pray for gun free streets in our city and for the Kingdom to come in this area of life in Manchester. We believe Manchester is changing and we continue to pray for the peace and prosperity of our city.

For more newsabout the progress and investment being made to cut gun crime, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7435191.stm

Ezekiel Shibemba encourages us to use what we already have!

In Luke 17:5 – 6 records the apostles ask the Lord to increase their faith. This is a prayer we all may have prayed at some point: if only the Lord would increase my faith so I could great exploits for Him!

Jesus replies and teaches us several things about faith:

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

One of the things we learn is that if you ask for faith to be increased, you need to be encouraged because it means you have…some faith, no matter how small or weak you think your faith may be.

The other thing he teaches us is that for faith to be effective, ‘size’ or ‘amount’ is not the most significant thing. What is significant is that you can use small faith to achieve great things. You can move things that appear permanent by speaking to them.

Yet another lesson we learn about faith is that it increases with use. The apostles ask him to increase their faith, the Lord replies use it! Find opportunities to put into practice what you believe about healing, salvation, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, meeting needs and being the salt of the earth. The great thing is that faith comes to us as a gift. We can use it, no matter how small it is, to change the landscape of our finances, marriages, city, nation and world. And the more we use it, the more of it we have! What will you change by using your faith today?

Iyabo Fatimilehin, tells of God’s goodness.

Although I have had migraines from time to time over the last few years, they began to increase in frequency last autumn and I went to see my GP. He prescribed anti-migraine medication which got rid of the migraine but the next day I would have another one. I saw him again in April because they were worse and I had run out of the medicine that he had prescribed.

He suggested a low dose of antidepressants which I declined and I left with more of the previous medication. Some friends suggested that I try different kinds of painkillers, acupuncture or herbal medicine, and I was daunted by the prospect of the cost of that in time and money!

Following a week in which I had severe migraines each day, I arrived at King’s House for the Sunday meeting. That week I had had to leave work early several times and could not look after the children when I got home.

At the end of the meeting that Sunday, I went to the front and asked to be prayed for so that God would heal my migraines. Since that day (11th May) I have been free of migraines. I have not taken any more medication and I don’t even have the threat of a migraine starting hanging over me! God is faithful and his love and grace endure forever!!

On Sunday we concluded our overview of the Bible. Many times through the series elders exhorted us to read through the Bible on a regular basis. All of the preaching on the Bible Overview series is available to download free on the audio button on this website.

The following excerpt is edited from “How to Read the Bible,” a sermon published in 1879.

eed I suggest the question as to whether you do read your Bibles or not? I am afraid that this is a magazine-reading age, a newspaper-reading age, a periodical-reading age, but not so much a Bible-reading age as it ought to be.

I would to God that we ministers kept more closely to the grand old book. We should be instructive preachers if we did so, even if we were ignorant of “modern thought,” and were not “abreast of the times.” I warrant you we should be leagues ahead of our times if we kept closely to the word of God.

As for you, my brothers and sisters, who have not to preach, the best food for you is the word of God itself. Sermons and books are well enough, but streams that run for a long distance above ground gradually gather for themselves somewhat of the soil through which they flow, and they lose the cool freshness with which they started from the spring head. Truth is sweetest where it breaks from the smitten Rock, for at its first gush it has lost none of its heavenliness and vitality. It is always best to drink at the well and not from the tank. You shall find that reading the word of God for yourselves, reading it rather than notes upon it, is the surest way of growing in grace. Drink of the unadulterated milk of the word of God, and not of the skim milk, or the milk and water of man’s word.

Toyin Bakare, a member of King’s Church shares her story.

God is so good! I used to suffer from hay fever. It would always start from as early as April and continue until late September or early October. Year after year I always dreaded the pollen coming in the Summer. 3 weeks ago on a Friday evening I was simply chatting to a friend on facebook, when I felt prompted by the Spirit to start praying. Sitting by my computer, I spoke out aloud and said, “In the name of Jesus I am COMPLETELY healed of hay fever”. Immediately I was healed.

I cycle each day to work and am therefore surrounded by pollen. Since I believed and confessed healing in the name of Jesus I have not been affected one bit for over three weeks.

I thank God so much for instantly healing me of something that had affected me unnecessarily for too long. I’m loving this Summer!